REPORTAGE
It is a city that is about to go into hibernation. Milan, the economic center of Italy, is now living under cover as the Covid-19 epidemic continues its inexorable advance in the "Boot". According to the latest available assessment, the peninsula has more than 10,000 proven cases, and 631 deaths. After having put the country under bell Monday evening, the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will perhaps even take a step further in the drastic measures by ordering the cessation of all activities in Lombardy (the region of Milan) and in Veneto , the two main outbreaks of Covid-19 in the country. A request from the presidents of the two regions themselves, Attilio Fontana and Luca Zaia, to finally effectively stem the coronavirus.
In this context, the Milanese stay as much as possible at home, and the city slowly dies out, as our journalist saw on the spot. With each passing hour, there are fewer and fewer cars on the road, fewer pedestrians, fewer cafes open, while trams and metros run empty. If there are still a few workers on construction sites, the security guards overwhelmingly monitor empty buildings. Usually full of life, Milan is almost silent.
>> Coronavirus: Follow live developments
Towards a cessation of all economic activities?
Closing all stores, hotels, government offices and public places, except supermarkets and pharmacies, would wreak havoc on the economy. "I am a real estate agent, and this measure worries us a lot because the market will take a big hit, and our sales will inevitably collapse," says one of the few inhabitants that we can still meet on the street. "We Italians are Latin, like you French or Spanish, so it's harder to discipline yourself than the Chinese," said another man. Before continuing: "But their example is not bad and it works. So yes, it is worrying to close everything, but it works, why not?"
Some sectors are still trying to escape this "shutdown" and the large industrial companies are negotiating the maintenance of major strategic activities, which have yet to be determined. The government has also released an exceptional envelope of 25 billion euros to deal with this crisis.